Phillies Defeat Diamondbacks with Dominant Start from Wheeler

After so many routs, nail-biters, and come-from-behind wins, it was nice to watch a simple, uneventful Philadelphia Phillies victory this Saturday afternoon. Not to say the last eight wins haven't been exciting, but good baseball teams have to win the boring games too.

Zack Wheeler came out dealing in the first inning, retiring the side on 14 pitches. He would continue to pitch well all day, although the Arizona Diamondbacks drove up his pitch count enough to take him out of the game after six innings.

Wheeler struck out eight Diamondbacks hitters, walking none. He allowed zero runs and just two hits. His ERA dropped to a stellar 2.84, and he now leads National League starters with 2.3 FanGraphs WAR.

After Wheeler left the game, Jeurys Familia came in to pitch the seventh and got into a bit of trouble, loading the bases with two outs. Thankfully, Andrew Bellatti was able to come in and finish off the inning with no damage.

Brad Hand pitched a clean eighth, and looked much better than he did on Friday night. Finally, Cristopher Sánchez came in for the ninth to finish things off against the heart of Arizona's lineup. It wasn't all smooth sailing for Sánchez, who allowed two base runners, but he got the job done without giving up a run.

The Phillies' offense scored just four runs, but that would be more than enough to seal the victory today.

Rhys Hoskins got things started with a first-inning double and eventually came around to score on a single from Nick Castellanos. Hoskins and Castellanos both had two hits on the day.

In the bottom of the second, Bryson Stott continued his torrid performance in June with a two-run home run to right field. The Phillies took a three-run lead.

See ya! https://t.co/0hDHieYXU5
— Inside the Phillies (@InsidePhilsFN) June 11, 2022

Heading into the game, Stott was already hitting .333/.394/.667 this month with three home runs and nine RBI. He now leads the Phillies with twelve runs scored in June.

Philadelphia's offense was quiet from the second inning until the eighth, when they finally tacked on a fourth run. Bryce Harper singled and came around to score on a double from Castellanos.

Harper ended up having a very nice day at the plate, despite getting very worked up and sharing some choice words with home plate umpire Chris Guccione after a first inning ground out. He reached base in each of his next three plate appearances.

Finally, a recap of today's game would not be complete without mentioning Matt Vierling, who played his first ever game at second base. He has never played the position professionally, nor did he play there in college. In fact, according to Tom McCarthy on the NBC Sports Philadelphia television broadcast, Vierling has never played second base competitively; he played shortstop in high school, while his younger brother Mark played second.

Vierling made one poor throw during a double play attempt in the ninth inning, but for the most part he looked quite comfortable at his this position.

Matt Vierling has fielded five ground balls and caught one pop up though six innings in his professional debut at second base.
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) June 11, 2022

With a 4-0 victory against the Diamondbacks, Philadelphia kept their winning streak alive for another day and secured their third straight series win. Their record is now above .500 for the first time since April 12—the first week of the season.

Ranger Suárez will take the mound on Sunday afternoon, trying to lead the Phillies to their third consecutive series sweep and 10th straight win.

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